


Blueberry Tea

by esanabridges



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 05:56:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esanabridges/pseuds/esanabridges
Summary: Naru has a very simple order every time he comes into the cafe. Mai finds it ridiculously boring.





	Blueberry Tea

**Author's Note:**

> It's incredible to me the way the GH fandom has come back with a vengeance, and I've been left squealing by the amazing things that are being produced. I've always loved this series, so I thought I might as well finally participate!

"Americano for… Oliver?"

A young man probably in his early twenties or late teens stepped up to the counter, stretching out his hand for the cup of coffee. He was dressed quite smartly in a black shirt with a dark, jewel blue tie over white dress pants and loafers. He did not look up from the phone held in his other hand, dark bangs shielding his eyes from her view.

 _Well-dressed and kinda pretty._ "Oliver?" Mai asked again, hoping that that might make the young man lift his head so she could get a better view of his face.

It worked, and her eyes met his, a shade of indigo that was almost black. Momentarily, she felt her heart skip a beat. No 'kinda' about it, he _was_ pretty.

"Good deduction," he replied to her question, reaching out the rest of the space to take the coffee cup from her grasp.

Irritation immediately rose to battle with the spark of attraction, and she bit her lip to avoid saying something rude. Instead, she forced a smile and said, "I like your tie. It brings out your eyes."

He let out a noise that might have qualified as a grunt from someone less dignified and turned, saying as he did so, "At least you have good taste."

Mai watched the customer go with narrowed eyes and an urge to yell that she had to work very hard to suppress.

 

Mornings were not a good time for Mai, which was why she had scheduled all her classes for the afternoon. What she had not considered at registration time was the fact that she had to work, and with all her classes in the afternoon, morning was all she had left. Getting up at seven was an unfortunate nightmare.

"Mai. Mai. Mai!"

Mai started to attention, head whipping around at the sound of her own name. Masako Hara, black-haired, gray-eyed, and far too pretty, was glaring at her from the register, where she was taking orders. Though Masako technically knew how to make most of the drinks, she almost never strayed from the counter, where her round eyes and sweet smile could do their best work.

"What?" Mai asked, smoothing down her apron absently. "What is it?"

Masako flicked her eyes upwards, her equivalent of an eye roll, and waved a cup at her. "An Americano?"

"Oh, right, sorry!" Mai placed her cup of blueberry tea (a constant in her life) on the counter and snatched the cup Masako was proferring and went about her business as Masako turned back to the counter and made apology noises at the customer. _As if I was even taking that long._ She sped through the process - Americanos were phenomenally easy, requiring really nothing but the machine - and then turned to look at the name.

"Americano for Oliver?"

As Oliver stepped up to take his drink, Mai felt a faint spark of recognition. "Oh, it's you!"

"Well done," he said, dryly, extending his arm. "You have an excellent memory."

Behind her, she could hear Masako stifle a laugh. Her cheeks glowing, Mai pushed the drink over. "Are you new in town? I've never seen you before."

"Really?" He asked, dryly. "Because based on your last outburst, you seemed to recognize me."

The blush deepened, though it was backed as much by annoyance as by anything else. "Well, yeah," she admitted, "But like - not before that. Did you just move here or something?"

"I thought I already paid for my drink. Or are personal questions part of the standard here?" He turned away from her, heading towards the door.

_Why you -_

"There's a great Starbucks two blocks down!" She yelled after him. "Don't worry! They won't charge questions!"

The door closed behind him.

 

"He has to be coming here for something," Mai announced around a sip of her tea.

"You mean, it's not for our delicious coffees, teas, and pastries?" Osamu Yasuhara clapped his hands to his cheeks in something like mock horror, and Mai swatted him on the shoulder. He grinned, dodging.

"Seriously though," Mai protested, flopping back onto her stool and folding her arms across her chest. "It's been two weeks! He comes in here every morning, he gets the simplest drink ever - except I guess, just a plain espresso - and he insults us."

Masako sniffed, taking a sip from her matcha tea. "Not all of us, Mai. Just you. He's quite polite to me. And you do antagonize him."

"I do not! He antagonizes me."

"Yesterday, you asked him if all pretty faces came with bad attitudes," Masako replied. She pulled at her bangs, which were just a little rumpled from having been pushed back for most of her shift. "Which I, personally, find quite rude."

"Yeah, well, we already know it's true for you," Mai muttered, though she kept her volume just loud enough that she was certain Masako could hear her. The other girl aimed a kick at her leg, but Mai dodged neatly out of the way and stuck her tongue out, grinning.

Yasuhara chuckled at the exchange. "Well, maybe, he comes here for the stimulating conversation."

"Or to see a face as pretty as his own," Masako said, moving onto smoothing down the back of her hair.

Mildly disgusted, Mai made a gagging noise. "Please. As if he sees anything but his own face. He is such a narcissist. If he was a supervillain, he would be 'Naru the Narcissist'."

 

"Oh, it's you, Naru. Americano, as always?"

She did not realize that she had said anything out of the ordinary until she looked up from keying in the order and saw Oliver frowning at her. Mai frowned back and then realized what she had said. She almost knocked over her tea as she snatched a hand to her mouth to stop a gasp.

 _Oh crap_!

"What did you just call me?"

"Uh -" Mai stalled. "Uhh - nothing! I meant - Oliver, yeah, totally, I know your name. It's not Naru! 4.67, please!"

He stared at her for another moment before handing over his credit card. "It is, actually."

Mai paused, halfway through writing 'Oliver' on the cup she had grabbed from the side of the counter. "What is?"

"Naru," he said back. "It's my nickname."

She was unable to suppress her snort of laughter at that. "What? Really? I'm not the first person to call you Naru the Narcissist? That's incredible. I mean -" Mai flapped her hand, still giggling, "- I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, of course, other people must have seen it. Here -" She crossed out the 'Oliver' and scrawled 'Naru' in large letters across the cup, along with the drink order, though the latter was rather moot since it's just her right then. John was taking his break in the back, and Masako would not get in for another ten minutes.

It was hard not to keep giggling as she tamped down the coffee grounds for her espresso and then slid it into the machine. By the time she got around to handing the cup off, Mai had managed to pull her face back to neutral, but as she handed over the drink, she could not help, but send the young man off with a, "Have a good day, Naru!"

 

"Hi, are you Mai?"

Mai blinked at Naru and tilted her head to the side, frowning. The frown had many reasons - this had to be the 20th time she and Naru had met, at the very least, Naru was smiling, and Naru wasn't wearing a tie - all signs of the apocalypse, surely.

"Uh… yes? Did you forget me?"

Naru grinned. "No, sorry, I should have started off with this: My name is Gene. I'm Naru's twin."

"Oh," Mai said, and then, " _Oh._ " She stared at Naru - Gene - who really was the spitting image of Naru, down to the color of their eyes, which was almost mesmerizing when turned into a smile. "Oh wow! I didn't realize Naru had a twin."

"Yeahh," Gene replied, drawing out the syllable. "It's not something we generally tell everyone we meet. Also, do me a favor. Don't tell him you met me. I just came down to see who's been riling up my brother every day."

She felt a blush start to rise in her cheeks. "Oh - well - it's not - I mean, he starts it!"

Gene snickered. "Yeah, I don't doubt that. Naru's always been a bit prickly. But he's really not a bad guy, even if he acts like it." He leaned back and ran his eyes over Mai briefly, as if he was studying her, and then smiled again. "So what do you recommend?"

"Oh, uh, I like the lavender tea? It seems really good," Mai offered.

Her customer nodded. "I'll get that then."

"Does he talk about this place?" Mai asked, as she pulled out the jar of tea. All the teas they served, including her favorite blueberry tea, were loose-leaf, but they had disposable tea bags they could fill to keep the tea from getting into everyone's teeth.

Gene nodded again. "Oh all the time. Not so much the coffee, though, more the barista who yells at him every day. I had to dig one of your cups out of the trash to even figure out where this place was."

Mai chuckled at the thought of Gene digging through the trash like a raccoon and focused on the drink. When she handed the tea over, Gene took a sip and then turned, waving as he did so. "Thanks for making my mornings so entertaining, Mai!"

 

"Whatever my brother told you, it was a lie," was the first thing Naru said to her the next time he walked in. Masako, who was working the counter, looked confused, but Mai glanced up from the machine, fairly certain that the words were meant for her. As she had expected, Naru was looking over Masako's shoulder.

She took a moment to study Naru to the image in her mind of Gene. They really were identical - except that it seemed that while Gene smiled constantly, Naru was almost incapable of it.

"Don't worry," she told him when she handed over the drink of the day. "Your reputation is intact."

 

"Mai, be a dear and make a frappe, will you?"

Ayako Matsuzaki, high-class heiress and drama queen, walked by the counter as if she owned the place (technically, she did, but still), and took her seat at a table by the window. It was her favorite spot, and when it was otherwise taken, she would sulk by the cashier and complain unsubtly.

Mai frowned as Ayako went by, muttering under her breath, "You could just stand in line like everyone else." Nevertheless, she pulled up a cup and labeled it with Ayako's name, her order, and handed it back to John, who took it with a smile and set about the very labor intensive task of meeting Ayako's standards. Ayako could be annoyingly entitled, but she had saved the little coffee shop when it had been in danger of going under, and she had let all the workers keep their jobs, too, so Mai secretly imagined Ayako had a large heart under all the privilege.

John carried the drink out to Ayako (only she got table service; everyone else waited like they were supposed to) and then came back to continue with the drink making. While Mai had been a barista for longer, John preferred making the drinks, since it kept him from the situation where someone couldn't understand or made fun of his accent. Personally, Mai thought John spoke well, but the general public could be a little more disheartening on the whole thing.

The morning carried on until the doors swung open, and a familiar dark head walked in. Mai perked up instantly at the sight of Naru, since she had a new plan in place for dealing with her favorite workplace nuisance.

"Good morning, Naru!" She called cheerfully. "Can I interest you in something different today? Some tea? Peppermint mocha? Maybe a pastry?"

Naru gave her a look that Mai judged to be at about 30% withering. "No. I'll have an Americano, as I've asked for since I started coming here."

"Oh, but are you sure, Naru? We make some great drinks, and I, personally, am a great barista."

"No." Naru pushed his credit card at her and then walked over to the other counter to wait for his drink.

Scowling, Mai grabbed a cup and began to write on it. Halfway through though, she changed her mind.

"Hey John? Is it okay if I make this next one?" She asked quietly, turning around to face her coworkers.

"Sure," John agreed. "Should I take the counter?"

"Only if someone comes. Otherwise, I'll be done in a second. Thanks!" She bustled over to the machines and began to set the Americano into action. As soon as it was going, she started a second drink on the side.

About five minutes later, she set two drinks down on the counter, one uncovered. Naru, who had been on his phone, glanced up, caught sight of the drinks, and then raised an eyebrow.

"What's this?"

"This," Mai answered, brandishing the uncovered drink in her left hand. "Is a flat white. It's got the same amount of espresso in this and your Americano, but this one has a cool layer of foam on top, and look!" She let go of the Americano and pointed at the flat white proudly. "I drew you a tie, cause you know, you wouldn't be caught dead without one."

He continued to stare for another moment and then extended a hand for the Americano. "Is this an Americano?"

"Yes, but," Mai said, reaching forward quickly and snatching the Americano back, "Consider your options, Naru. Do you really want to live a sad life without any foam in it? Try something new! Have an adventure! Don't you like adventure?"

"I like Americanos," Naru replied. He held out his hand, palm up and waited.

The two engaged in a brief glaring contest, before Mai finally surrendered and handed over the Americano. "Fine, but I'm going to drink this, and it's going to be delicious!" She yelled after him as he left. "Mmmm… mmmm, Naru! It's great!"

From her table in the corner, Ayako asked, "Mai, are you yelling at your customers?"

 

The next few weeks consisted of Mai attempting to push Naru to try something - anything - new. She couldn't do it every day, of course. It would not feel right to just make the drinks, so Mai always charged them to herself, and she couldn't afford more fancy, hipster drinks than she already had (the blueberry tea was a staple of her diet, of course), but about once or twice a week, she presented Naru with a new creation. Unfortunately, the reaction did not change. No matter how much she wafted the drinks in his direction or how pretty they looked, Naru always opted for his Americano, leaving Mai to grumpily drink her cup of coffee. Together with her normal tea consumption, it had led to a few overly caffeinated shifts, which had resulted in her crashing in her afternoon classes.

All her coworker were intensely amused by the one-sided contest she was having with Naru, Yasuhara and Monk (Hoshou Takigawa, the founder of the little café, who still retained most of his rights even if it was Ayako's money keeping everything afloat) being the most amused. John still seemed faintly confused by the whole thing, and Masako only sniffed and rolled her eyes.

Occasionally, Gene came as well, and he and Mai always had nice chats as she made his drinks. Sometimes, a very tall man with rather shaggy hair would come in as well, with one or another of the twins, and order a strong ginger tea, which he sipped quietly as Mai talked with Gene or argued with Naru. It was a reassuring pattern, but Mai was getting a little tired of it as well. Plus, the extra drinks were taking their toll on her paychecks.

So when Naru walked in that day (she could tell it was Naru just by the way that he walked), she decided that enough was enough. She placed her cup of blueberry tea onto the counter to place his order and write it down on the cup.

"You're not going to try to sell me anything else today?" Naru asked as Mai handed over his receipt.

"Nope, I've given up," Mai replied as she hopped off her stool and began the repetitive process of making the Americano. As the espresso dripped, she picked up her cup again and took another sip. It was still piping hot, since she had only made it a few minutes ago.

"What are you drinking?"

Mai glanced up in surprise at Naru and then shrugged. "Um, it's a blueberry tea. We have it on the menu, but it's also just my favorite tea. I have it all the time. Oh -" She turned at the beeping of the machine, placing the cup on the counter.

"Alright," she said as she finished capping the drink. "Here -" She stopped.

Naru was no longer at the counter.

She looked up to see that Naru was heading towards the door.

"Uh, Naru? You forgot your drink!"

He paused at the doors and shifted slightly so that she could see her blueberry tea in his right hand. "It's not bad," he commented, as he pushed the door open with a smirk. "Maybe I should try more new things. I'll see you tomorrow, Mai."

**Author's Note:**

> It took me a while to choose how I wanted to write their names (Japanese style/English style), but in the end, I went first name/last name just because I did watch the anime dub first (I was young!), and I can still hear the voice actors saying all their names that way.
> 
> I am a little sad that Monk and John and everyone else weren't featured as strongly in this, but I shall resolve to remedy this in future fics! (I can feel myself being sucked back into the fandom... <3)


End file.
